The spruces are disappearing, the pines are suffering and the beeches are also having problems. Heat, drought and pests are affecting the forest in Germany. Can he still be saved?
from
Tina Baier
The very last Christmas trees will be cleared from churches and living rooms by the Catholic holiday of Candlemas on February 2 at the latest. The Nordmann fir was the most popular again this year. It is easy to decorate, does not prick, hardly needles and therefore accounts for 75 percent of all Christmas trees sold, followed by the blue spruce with 15 percent. What both species have in common is that they do not occur in German forests at all, but are bred on plantations using a lot of fertilizer, pesticides and herbicides. Because of the climate, neither the Nordmann fir from the Caucasus nor the blue spruce from the Rocky Mountains in the western United States would have a chance of surviving in the wild.